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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
VICTOR Mutanga, the son of the late national hero and first Binga parliamentarian, Cde Andrew Sikajaya Mutanga, has been appointed Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the International Municipal BRICS Forum.
BRICS is a forum made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and brings together over 40 percent of the world’s population.
In 2019, the BRICS countries started the International BRICS Forum (IMBRICS), the largest forum for the cities of the world which focuses on promoting socio-economic growth of regional and municipal territories.
The forum seeks to establish business communications, increase export and import, promote investment projects, municipal co-operation and identify partners for economic and humanitarian co-operation.
It will be holding the IMBRICS Forum from 24 to 26 November next month in Russia where 5 000 delegates from 64 countries are expected to attend. There will be 900 speakers.
Mutanga (36) was selected by the IMBRCIS Forum to be Zimbabwe’s ambassador.
“In line with regulations on the International Municipal BRICS Forum and in connection with the preparations for the International Municipal BRICS Forum events, to organise the participation of foreign delegates in the International Municipal BRICS Forum events, I hereby decree Mr Victor Mutanga to be appointed as a Special Representative –Ambassador of organising committee for the period until 14 October 2023,” read an order from the chairman of the organising committee, Michail Cherepanov.
Mutanga may not have followed his father’s political footsteps but he definitely follows his route as an influential person in the community and world.
Cde Mutanga was Binga’s first black parliamentarian and was a legislator from 1980 to 1985 and between 1995 and 2000 before retiring from politics due to ill-health.
He died in 2011 at the age of 74.
Mutanga, who is fighting to correct distortion of his surname on identity documents, charmed the world through his work as a de-facto peace ambassador through the use of basketball to teach life skills to youths locally, in Botswana and South Africa.
He was playing basketball for Cape Town Peninsula when he started sessions to capacitate youth with life skills and this earned him recognition and selection to be peace ambassador by the international Institute for Peace Tourism in 2012 under Unesco.
At the time he also worked as a sales and advertising rep for Cape Media.
Mutanga went to London for training to be Truce Peace Ambassadors during the London Olympics after which he founded the Afro Global Youth Exchange to bring together young people from around the world to collaborate in every aspect of life.
“So, they felt I should be trained as a peace ambassador. Now I have been selected as the official ambassador for Zimbabwe at the IMBRICS Forum. I was recommended by some organisations and individuals that followed my work. IMBRICS is the largest municipal events for countries in the BRICS territory and my role involves mobilising people to attend the BRICS Forum in Russia next month,” said Mutanga.
He was officially selected on 14 October. The ambassadorship is valid for one year.
BRICS is not limited to member countries only but is open to the whole world.
Mutanga said this is a perfect opportunity not only for the Government to engage the world but for local authorities to sign partnerships with cities and municipalities in the BRICS forum.
“I will be facilitating for organisations, private and public sector, students and others to attend. The IMBCRICS Forum started in 2019 and I am the first Zimbabwean to become ambassador. This makes me the link between Zimbabwe and BRICS and I will help push for investment opportunities for the local economic sector especially small and medium enterprises.
“It is my hope that this will help our local authorities towards development. For example, Victoria Falls has a goal to become the first green city in Zimbabwe and this is the opportunity.
“During this period, I have been tasked to engage the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, investment agencies, destination marketers and other departments with a view to create avenues for the country to unlock investment opportunities and hopefully get President Mnangagwa to participate at the event,” said Mutanga.
The father of three is also an artiste who has recorded a song titled Zimbabwe which he released during the Covid-19 pandemic to promote tourism as a safe destination and encourage people to soldier on.
He also recorded a poem titled Imagine Peace, dedicated to Africa Day which he performed at the African Capital Cities Sustainability Forum attended by mayors from across Africa in Pretoria, South Africa in 2016.
That same year he was nominated for the Africa Achievers Awards.
During the same year, he was also selected by the Tony Elumelu Foundation into the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme which targets to develop 10 000 entrepreneurs every year.
Mutanga did his education at Chinotimba Primary School in Victoria Falls and attended Northlea High and Binga High schools in Bulawayo and Binga, respectively.
He started playing basketball for Victoria Falls Panthers and was adopted by a sports agency in the USA. — @ncubeleon
Online Reporter